English History - The Roman Conquerers and Boadicea the Warrior Queen

Thanks to Julius Caesar and his vivid accounts of conquering Britain we have accurate dates and intricate details during that time. His Standard-Bearer of the 10th Legion were the first attempt in  55 BC.

Caesar returned to Rome after less then twenty days. The Roman Senate declared this a victory and had a twenty-day holiday of celebration.

However, it took a couple of attempts to conquer the Britons properly and in AD 43 a forty thousand strong Roman army marched into Britain. A Roman squadron featuring elephants plodded thorough the Kent countryside.

Emperor Claudius was triumphant. He honoured the local chieftains of Britain as 'kings' and acknowledged they had rights. In AD 54 Claudius died and his cruel and wilful stepson, Nero, became Emperor.

When Prasutagus leader of the Iceni people in Britain died in AD 60 he left in charge his widow, Boadicea (Boudicca). Their lands were confiscated by the Romans and Boadicea publicly beaten and her two daughters raped.

The Iceni rose to battle led by Boadicea. Joined by other Britons they attacked Colchester (the capital of Rome's new province) and then Londinium with fury, they slaughtered the Roman inhabitants. Their numbers swelled with their victories.

Boadicea famously rode in her chariot leading her troops. The men spurred on by her words 'Consider how many of you are fighting and why - then you will win this battle, or perish! That is what I, a woman, plan to do! Let the men live in slavery if they want to.'

At the crux of her last battle a wagon train of British women and children led to the Britons downfall. They had fanned out in a semi-circle to watch the battle, expecting victory, but the Britons were pushed back and hemmed in by the wagons leading to the terrible slaughter of eighty thousand Britons and only four hundred Roman deaths, according to one report. Boadicea along with her daughters, as legend has it, took poison to avert capture by the Romans.

According to Tacitus her forces prior to their downfall had massacred up to 70,000 Romans and pro-Roman Britons and destroyed the Roman 9th Legion.

Queen Bodicea's statue can be found near the Houses of Parliament at Westminster Bridge.

The Romans got busy with building roads, spas and temples and lauding themselves around. There was still warring in the north of the island from the Picts and the Caledonians and so in AD 122 Emperor Hadrian had a wall built from east to west, seventy three miles long, 3 meters thick and 5 metres high; to try and keep them back.

Hadrian's Wall

The Romans ruled until the barbaric Germanic Angles and Saxons came sailing in to Briton and started raiding villages. They even threatened Rome itself. Around AD 410 the Roman legions were brought back to Rome and the Britons were left to fend for themselves.